I had spare time and I was able to write down the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. This one is about Edward being trapped on the other side of the gate. Read and enjoy. Post comments if you want.
When Edward crossed to the other side of the gate, he appeared in London. He woke up on a dirt road. The suit of armor was next to him.
"Al, are you okay?" he asked.
There was no reply. Fear rose inside of Ed. He touched the armor and gave it a small shake.
"AL!" he called again.
There was still no reply. Ed started to breath very hard. He looked for the blood mark on the armor, but it was gone. Ed collapsed on the suit of armor and cried.
"God no!" he cried.
A man approached Ed and he put his hand on his head.
"There, there. Tell me what you're so upset about," he asked.
"My brother is gone," Ed replied pitifully.
"I'm so sorry. Did he die in the armor?"
"No. His soul left it."
"You mean that suit of armor was your brother?"
"Yes. I can't believe I lost my little brother."
"Little? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Don't start calling me short man! I'm not in the mood to be pissed off!"
"You're already pissed."
Ed took a swing at the man with his right arm, but he dodged his swing and Ed fell on his arm.
"Ow, that hurt--- wait, that hurt?" he said confusingly.
Ed took of his jacket and was shocked to see his right arm back to normal.
"I got my arm back," he said silently.
"Aren't you Edward Elric?" the man asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"I heard so much about you."
"Good for you."
"Forgive me for being so mean back there."
"It's alright. You're not the only one who calls me short."
"Do you have a place to stay at?"
"No."
"Come stay at my place then."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Come on."
"What about my brother?"
"Well bring his armor along. Can't let it sit in the middle of the road there can I?"
Ed and the man put Al's suit of armor in the back of the man's car. They got in and drove down the road. About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at a big house.
"This is your home?" Ed asked in surprise.
"Yeah, It's pretty big," he replied.
They got out of the car and carried Al's armor inside. They put him in a corner and the man told Ed to sit anywhere. He plopped down on the couch. Suddenly, three small children ran into the room and jumped on the man.
"Daddy!" they said happily.
"Hey you three isn't it passed your bedtime?" he asked.
The children climbed off his lap and looked at Ed.
"Who's he?" one of them asked.
"This is Edward Elric," replied the man.
"Hi!" another one of the children said.
A woman walked into the room. She was carrying a small baby in her arms. She had shiny gold hair. Her eyes were gentle and full of love.
"Oh, I didn't know we had company," she said.
"Honey, this is Edward Elric," the man said.
"Nice to meet you, I heard so much about you," she said.
Ed smiled at her. She stood behind her children.
"These are my children, Tana, Sambi, Vuca, and my youngest Monni," she said.
"Nice to meet you," said Ed.
"I'm Caroline and that's my husband Henji," she said.
"Nice to meet you all," replied Ed.
"I hear you are a state alchemist."
"Yeah."
"What are you planning to do?"
"I don't know. I don't know anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't do anything without my brother."
"What happened to him?"
"He left me. I made a promise to my mother that I would take care of him."
"I'm so sorry."
Ed put his head in his hands. He looked at his brother's armor then he buried his head in his arm. Caroline escorted the children in another room.
"Time for bed," she said.
The children whined and were sent to bed. Henji sat next to Ed and gave him a small pat on the back.
"You miss your brother don't you?" he asked.
"Of course. I feel guilty," he replied.
"Why?"
"I promised my mother on her deathbed that I would take care of my brother and I broke it."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I opened the gate with my alchemy and Al and I crossed over."
"Did anything happen when you crossed over?"
"No. I wound up here with Al and he wouldn't wake because he----"
"He what?"
"Oh my gosh!"
"What! What's the matter?"
"Al never crossed over."
"What do you mean?"
"He didn't cross over. He's still on the other side."
"Do you know if he's alive?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to find a way back to Al. Do you have any books on alchemy?"
"Yes of course. Go ahead and look through them. They're in my den."
Henji lead Ed to the den. He handed him a stack of books.
"Feel free to use anything in here," he said.
"Thank you," replied Ed.
Henji walked out of the den and Ed got started on the books. He read through all of them in five hours. And got little information.
"Damn it!" he grunted.
He slammed the book shut and put it with the rest of the stack. He got up and slumped around the room. He looked through the bookshelf for more alchemy books. While he searched, something slipped out of one of the books and landed at Ed's feet. He bent down and picked it up. The small piece of paper had a few numbers which didn't make any sense to Ed. He flipped it over and there was a picture of Henji with a woman. She had short brown hair. Her smile reminded Ed of his mother. He turned the picture over and studied the numbers.
"What could this mean?" he asked himself.
He put the picture back in a book. It was two a clock in the morning. Ed was tired. He looked for a place to sleep. He found a couch that had a few stacked books. He removed them and plopped on the couch. It wasn't very comfortable, but he made the best of it. He fell asleep by the cricket's chirping. The moonlight shined on him through the small window. The next morning, Ed woke up to the smell of bacon. He got up and found his way into the kitchen. Caroline was cooking breakfast. The children were sitting at the table eating everything off their plate. The baby was in a high chair drinking from his bottle. Caroline handed Ed a plate full of bacon and eggs.
"I hope you're hungry," she said.
"Thank you. This looks delicious," said Ed.
He sat down at the table with the children and started to eat. Within no time, Ed finished his breakfast. The children were shocked.
"Mommy, Edward inhaled his breakfast!" said Tana
"Like the vacuum cleaner," said Vuca.
Sambi imitated the sound of a vacuum and Caroline laughed.
"Well I'm glad he enjoyed it," she said.
She put the dishes in the sink and washed them. The children went into their rooms to get ready for school. Henji entered the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Good morning Edward. Did you get the information you wanted?" he asked.
"Not really. I only got a little amount," he replied.
"I'm sorry. I thought my books would help you."
"It's alright."
"Tell you what. I can take you down to the library after I drop off the kids at school."
"Okay."
Around seven, Henji, Edward and the children climbed into the car. After the kids were dropped off, Henji drove Edward to the library.
"I'll pick you up at around five," he said.
"Okay," replied Ed.
Henji drove off and Ed entered the library. There were millions of books. He found a lot on alchemy. He stacked a few alchemy books next to him. He read through them one by one. People in the library thought of Ed as a bookworm.
No one minded him because he was keeping his business to himself. Around 4:30, Edward finished his stack of books and Henji found him putting the books back.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Did you get your information?"
"Yes, but I don't understand some of it."
"That's okay. Alchemy is hard to understand."
Henji and Ed left the library and went back to the house. Caroline and the children were eating dinner.
"Please join us Ed," she said.
Henji gave Ed a plate that was full of juicy beef and potatoes. He sat at the table and ate everything off his plate in a couple of bites. The children were still amazed that he could still inhale his food.
"Do it again!" shouted Sambi.
"Don't shout at the table," Caroline scolded him.
"Kid if I do that again, my tummy will explode," said Ed.
Later that night, Caroline tucked the children in bed and put the baby in the crib. Edward was in the living room writing down notes about what he read in the alchemy books. Getting back to Al was going to be difficult. Henji entered the living room and gave Ed a pillow and a thick blanket.
"Make yourself comfortable," he said.
"I will," Ed replied.
Henji went to bed with his wife. Ed completed two pages of alchemy notes, but something was missing in his notes. Ed tried and tried to come up with the missing link, but he couldn't find it. Soon enough, he formed a headache. He decided to sleep on his information. He wrapped himself in the big thick blanket and he hit his head on the pillow. He thought about the information he gathered until he was fast asleep. In his sleep, he saw his mother. She was a few feet away from him. She kept crying out 'Edward, Edward.'
Ed tried to run to her, but she kept getting farther and farther away. She cried out 'Edward you promised' then she vanished. The ground started to shake and cracks were separating the ground. Ed was running away from it screaming 'Mommy!' He couldn't see her, but she was still talking.
"You promised me!" she said.
"I'm sorry mommy!" he screamed.
Suddenly the cracks opened underneath Ed and he fell through the ground. He could still hear his mother say 'You promised me.' He continued to fall until he hit the ground. Ed woke up in cold sweat. His hands were shaking from the fear he experienced. Caroline and Henji rushed into the room.
"Are you alright?" they asked.
"I'm fine. I just had a nightmare was all," Ed said between breaths.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Caroline asked.
"No it's okay," Ed replied.
Caroline got Ed some water and he drank it. His shaking calmed down. She smiled and told him to have sweet dreams. Caroline went back to bed with Henji.
Ed layed back down and closed his eyes. The wind that blew in the willows outside calmed Ed down even more. He was able to sleep. A gentle breeze blew over the house. It seemed like it was holding on to the family home. The clouds passed through the starry night.
To Be Continued………
